Imagine a television service that knows a viewer watches "Today" every morning and "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah" at night. On the subway, this TV fan catches up on the news on the phone.
When viewers turn on the service, it is already streaming their favorite programming depending on the time, place and device in use. It also understands what she is most likely to want to watch next.
That is the new vision for Hulu, which got its start primarily as a rerun service for broadcast TV shows.
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"How do we get people to content that they love, fast?" said Mike Hopkins, Hulu's chief executive. "How do we make it so personalized that we are thinking ahead for you so that you don't have to?"
Mr. Hopkins confirmed Hulu's plans to create an offering of both live and recorded programming from a streamlined bundle of broadcast and cable channels. The initiative is part of a push by Hulu and its three corporate owners — 21st Century Fox, the Walt Disney Company and Comcast's NBCUniversal — to rethink how TV companies approach the future.
Several details are still being determined, including the price and which channels will be included in the package. Executives with knowledge of the plans said the service was expected to cost about $40 a month and Hulu was close to deals to include broadcast and cable channels from both Disney and Fox.
The development is part the evolution that has occurred at Hulu since Mr. Hopkins was named chief executive in 2013. Since then, Hulu introduced an advertising-free option, made a big bet on original programming and struck streaming deals for a number of television hits including "Seinfeld" and "Empire."
Hulu now counts more than 10 million subscribers, with a vast majority paying for the ad-supported model. That compares with Netflix's 45.7 million paid subscribers in the United States.
In advance of Hulu's upfront presentation for advertisers on Wednesday, Mr. Hopkins discussed what is next for the company and for the future of streaming television. His answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Why create this new offering that would offer a live and on-demand stream of entire broadcast and cable channels now?
Broadband speeds have advanced quite a bit over the last few years. There are a couple of other offerings that have been put out into the market in various forms that show that network groups are willing to license their channels in this way now.
Some TV executives described Hulu's new service as an effort to rethink their approach to streaming video. What needs to be fixed?
There is a paradox of choice that is out there today with the number of channels that are available. It is not intuitive or easy always to find them, particularly on your mobile device. We are going to try to solve that by making it more personalized.
One major risk of a streamlined bundle from Hulu could be the potential that traditional cable and satellite distributors see the new service as a declaration of war. That could put at risk the billions of dollars that the TV networks receive each year from those traditional distributors. What can you do to prevent that?
It is not a declaration of war on anyone. I don't think we are designing this for people that are really happy with their pay TV service. This is designed for the people that the marketplace is concerned are falling out of love with pay TV. We want to have a product for them.
Will viewers be able to skip through commercials or pay for a commercial-free offering?
We haven't made any of those decisions yet.
How would you describe the competitive rivalry now among Netflix, Amazon and Hulu? How do you expect that to change?
We're all in this new market and developing it together. I don't really see it as a rivalry per se between any of us. We certainly compete against each other for content rights, but I am not sure I would say we are rivals just yet.
The last year has seen an explosion of new streaming services that allow people to ditch their traditional TV subscriptions that cost an average of $80 a month in favor of cheaper viewing. How many streaming services do you anticipate people will subscribe to?
We're in this phase where a lot of people are going to launch these and test and see how they work. Over time, not all of them will last. It is not an easy business to be in. You are direct to consumer. Every single day you have to make people happy enough to stay a subscriber. It is very easy to sign up and it is very easy to cancel.
A big win for Hulu was when it became the exclusive streaming home to episodes of "Seinfeld." How did that fit into your strategy? What are other hot properties that you are after?
TV is very personal for people. So when you think about the shows that you watch, they are different than the shows that I watch and they are different than the shows my daughter watches. When we look at our product, we have to have as many of the shows as you want and love as we can possibly have. And then we have to personalize the service for you so that you know that we have them and that we are recommending the next one that we hope you will enjoy.
Last September, Hulu introduced an option that allowed people to pay $12 a month for a commercial-free version of the service. What have you learned from the rollout of the new offering?
Giving people choice is really important. Even though a lot more people decided to stick with the ad-supported plan or to choose the ad-supported plan as new customers, by giving them the choice I think we have made people happier with the ultimate choice that they have made.